The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1887-05-18

III IL very pam tHdl thc Pi'P"''''N"
submitted to the Virginia commissioners
by the Englshmen ought to have been
accepted. 1t is a mere matter OF arithmeu-
cal calculation to show that il brought the
annual interest within the present reye-
nucs of the State, after leaving appropria-
tions for schools, &c, just what they are.
But il would be a waste of time to show
this; we prefer to discuss the subject from
the standpoint taken by our Virginia com
missioners
1t is conceded all round that the State
can easily pay an annual interest Of $780,
900. Her own commissioners will con-
cede this
Now, in their reply to Sir Edward
Thornton's proposition, all that they
claim is that the annual interest, if the
debt were funded under it, would be
1925 600 50 that it would seem that S125,
900 a year was all that separated the par
ties, Sir Edward being prepared all the
time to demonstrate that the annual in
tercst under his proposition would be lit
tie more than 100000
Let it he observed, then, that the Nir-
ginia commissioners split with the En-
glish commissioners upon fear that the
State might possibly be called upon to
pay each year, from the day of funding,
1926, 600 more than they conceded her to
be able to pay. BIT tins teqr ros bascd ppon
tie suppositioa mat the entire dcjt 'rop'd nc
f,lnded immediately and Jetore the first semi-
QfaVol payment Jecame dine.
Now, whoever has had any experience
in the funding Of public debts knows
that they fund slowly. The Riddleberger
bill has been in operation five years, vet
but trifling percentage Of the debt has
/ been funded under IT, II may he said
that a considerable proportion of that
part of it that is not secured by taX-re-
ceiyable coupons has been funded under
it; but, nevertheless, here, five years
after it went into operation, we find. ac-
cording TO the report of the Virginia
commissioners, about 50 900, 600 Of what
has no security whatever still uniunded
underit. The State does not propose to do
anything for this different from what the
Riddlebergcr bill offers If it has refused
to receive that for five years what rea-
son is there TO suppose that it will at
once rush in to accept its terms now?
The funding act Of 1871, which offered
exceptionally liberal terms to the crcdi-
tors, was in force just one year, yet only
two-thirds Of the debt was funded that
year
The McCulloch act of 1879 was in force
one whole year yet only one-fourth Of
the debt was funded under it,
So of the present offer; it cuts the face
of the debt down so far that there are
necessarily many men who would have
been reluctant to accept il. IT is safe to
say that not much more than two-thirds
Of it could possibly have been funded the
first year, and that the end of five years
would have seen a considerable proper
ton of it unfunded. Conceding there
fore, for the sake of argument, that The
State had only 100000 available for i'm
terest, it is plain she could have met the
interest under the Englishmen's proposal,
even supposing that full interest under
it would have been S925,OOO through the
entire debt coming in at once TO be
funded
These considerations are sufficient to
show that it was obvious to all that rea-
sonable settlement could easily have been
made upon the Englishmen's proposition,
and il was not reasonable to expect them
10 abate their claims further than they
did abate them, when they could see that
the State could easily pay them what they
asked.
Every patriotic Yirginian has now a
plain duty set before him. lie should
exercise his lawful right to pay his taxes
with coupons, and continue TO do so until
the State accepts the liberal offer Of set
Element that her creditors have made